Suez reports growth in revenue, profits

France-based environmental services firm Suez has reported first quarter 2018 financial results it says are “fully in line with our annual targets.” In the quarter ending March 31, 2018, the company says its revenue topped €4 billion ($4.7 billion), growing 13.8 percent “at constant exchange rates” compared to the first quarter of 2017.

The Paris-based firm also has reported earnings before income taxes of €289 million ($341 million), up 10.2 percent compared with the prior year’s first quarter.

The company indicates its Recycling and Recovery Europe operations had narrower revenue and profitability growth compared to its diverse international operations and its Water Technologies & Solutions (WT&S) sector. Beyond Europe, Suez operates in Australia, the Middle East, North and South America and parts of Africa and Asia.

“Recycling and Recovery Europe reported revenue growth of 1.3 percent at constant exchange rates,” according to a Suez news release. “This division was bolstered by the sharp improvement in the volume of [material] treated (up 3.6 percent), but was negatively affected by the adverse trend in paper and cardboard prices following China’s decision to restrict imports.”

Within its recycling operations, Suez says its first-quarter 2018 performance “was driven mainly by price hikes in the services activities and an increase in volumes.”  Providing more details on commodity pricing, the company states, “The sharply negative price effect on paper, for which average prices were down 37 percent relative to 2017, was partially offset by higher scrap metal prices (up by 20 percent).”